Quibbles
by Kriste-chan
Summary: Hinata uses reason to stall Sasuke's inquiry on her feelings for Naruto. Let the bombarding begin. SasuHina friendship fic


**Quibbles  
****By: Kriste-chan**

_For Kate. God bless for the coming oral rev and I'm sure you did well in the grand ret dem. I just hope I'd do well too._

**Disclaimer: **Naruto (c) Masashi Kishimoto. I only own my brain and this fic.

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"Why don't you just talk to him?"

Hyuuga Hinata's eyes, as much as her heart nearly leapt out of its protective rib cage, bounded the vicinity for the source of the seemingly bored voice. She didn't know whether her recklessness or her "unsuppressed fondness" for Naruto-kun should be blamed for being caught red-handed but she guessed it didn't matter now anyway. "U-Uchiha-san..." pale eyes met a pair of expressionless onyx, "It's... It's just you."

She tensed; and the fact that she was trying her best not to squirm like a maggot under those Sharingan-able eyes didn't help her tenseness one bit. It may have been well-over a year now since _the_ Uchiha Sasuke returned to Konoha, but through the expanse of that time, this would only be their second encounter. The first was when she assisted Sakura-chan in treating his then unconscious, battered and bloody body.

"Tch," he laid his head back on the tree's bark, neither resounding contempt nor willingness to converse. Typical Uchiha Sasuke.

"... Well?"

Hinata nearly doubled over when _he_ asked. That did _not _sound like resentment to converse.

"Why don't you just talk to him?"

Was he _really_ initiating conversation with _her_? "A-Ano..."

She saw him shrug. "When you get bored, curiosity often gets the best of you..." he must've sensed her hesitation, "Is there anything unusual with my question?"

"A-Ano... i- it's not like that, I mean... Naruto-kun... I- I can't... I mean... I- I don't..."

"Observing Naruto's routine for a week—" he seemed to stop at a thought, "—or maybe even longer than a week... or God-knows how long you've been watching him by now, won't do you any good." He shook his head as Hinata's face flamed. This just confirmed his suspicions that she had been following Naruto ever since, well practically, ever since the world began. "That dobe's too dense to even notice anything unless you punch him right on the face."

"I-Iie, Uchiha-san..." Hinata had always suspected, if not knew, that he wasn't one for subtlety. Only right now, she wished that he didn't have to be _that _un-subtle with words. "I... I couldn't do that..." she uttered, and proceeded to fumbling her fingers nervously.

Sasuke tilted his head to properly look down on her, "Why not?"

"I-It's because... because..." Hinata took one deep breath, "It's just like what Tenten-chan told me."

He arched an eyebrow; searching for a face to match the name she mentioned, "The girl with buns on her head..." He uttered flatly after a while. "She's Rock Lee and your cousin's teammate."

Hinata nodded, "She told me... that... that if the person whom she cared for the most is happiest as he is at the moment... then there's no reason why she should enter his life anymore." She halted and turned to look at Naruto, busily conversing with Kiba and Akamaru; her gaze visibly turning gentler, "Because... because she said that the reason why we love someone is that we want to make that person happy. And if he's happy, then she's happy as well."

"That is as good as maybe..." The Uchiha frowned, "But did you seriously think that Naruto's currently happy as he is?"

Hinata managed to laugh softly, making the Uchiha blink.

"Is there anything funny?"

"Oh no..." said Hinata, her eyes turning to meet his, amusedly, "I'm sorry if I had offended you but... it's just that... I remember asking Tenten-chan the same thing..." she smiled, "... about Neji-niisan."

His eyes seemed to survey her for a while before nodding quietly, "I see."

Hinata kept on smiling. She knew those two words translate to "I don't care. Answer my question. _Now_" since, as much as he wasn't one for subtlety, he wasn't also one for beating around the bush. "He... Naruto-kun... had been anything but sad ever since you returned to Konoha... I've never seen him so happy compared with the times that I've watched him before."

"Hn." He answered, "I do hope that your cousin's teammate supplied you with a more satisfying answer..." He shifted his position once more, letting his left leg dangle from a branch. "Because I know you're depriving me of it..."

Hinata's eyes widened, "I- Iie, Uchiha-san... I'm... I'm..."

He snorted, "I still think it would do you good if you would just approach him."

"B-But... I... I can't do that."

His brows burrowed together; obviously annoyed, "Then why the hell not?"

"It's because—"

"Don't answer that." he cut her off with an audible exasperated sigh, "Look, if you're going to tell me that you're not telling him because you don't feel that it's not yet time or— what the hell, you just couldn't tell him without taking on a lobster's color for a face, then fine. I won't mind and I would even grant Naruto the benefit of being called "luckier" since he didn't have girls following him around, squealing confessions of nonsense every one or five minutes a day—" Hinata's eyes widened a bit, surprised at the Uchiha's sudden uncharacteristic outburst, "But if you're going to force me to believe that you're not telling because he's already happy as he is then let me give you a piece of my mind..."

His words trailed off as Hinata looked up to him expectantly. It was rare to hear Uchiha Sasuke-san talk in sentences filled with massive amounts of words in just one sitting...

"Naruto..." he slowed; rearranging incoherent thoughts that he never even thought he'd verbalize someday, "... he has never known a family before we— Sakura, Kakashi and myself— became team seven." He stopped for a while and gauged the weight of his words, knowing that Hinata, despite her stuttering syndrome and legendary popularity as a "weakling" (although he found the thought ironic since a weakling could never battle the odds of one against ten jounins, as Hinata exemplified a year ago during the siege of Konoha), revealed a comprehending side that was most mature compared with those that belonged in their academy batch. "There was also once a point when I considered him luckier he didn't have to feel the same pain that I went through when my family was butchered mercilessly, but... I was wrong." The façade that he was keeping slowly melted as his eyes shifted towards a certain cheerful blonde, clowning around from 50 yards away. "At least I have memories to keep. He, on the other hand, doesn't have anything to cherish but loneliness and rejection before we met..."

There was no contempt written on his face; only memories. She saw the old Sasuke quietly resurfacing from the coarse and steeled man that he became after Orochimaru tempered and forged the hate that he had harbored for so many years. That was why, when Hinata saw the faintest hint of a smile on Uchiha-san's face, she simply knew that his icy façade was giving way right before her eyes.

"Just as I remember my mother's keenness in reminding me that I'd only understand some things when I'm old enough, I used to think that I was already old enough to understand things because..." Hinata heard him chuckle, "because I was sure that I understood everything: I understood that I was right and they were wrong because they didn't understand me at all..."

"Uchiha-san..." Hinata's subdued voice returned confidently despite its meekness, "Do you think... do you think you've reached that point already?"

It was actually odd for Sasuke, but the tenseness that he felt earlier seemed to drift away as he stared up at the clouds. "No," he uttered, "I'm not claiming that I fully understand what she meant except for one thing..."

Hinata saw Sakura bound towards Naruto and Kiba while waiting for Uchiha-san to continue.

"I've grown enough to realize the wisdom in their words," he smiled; a rarity in all its forms and Hinata knew as well that anyone, who happened to see it form on Sasuke's face, would definitely treasure that smile forever. "I didn't understand the connection between myself and Naruto when we were younger but now, I know..."

"Do not deprive him of something that he deserved to have after suffering and waiting for so long, Hinata-san," his gaze shifted; the small and almost indistinct smile never left his lips as he looked down at the ivory-eyed heiress. "During the war with Orochimaru, Naruto may have finally gained the things that he had yearned for in the past but still, there's something missing." The corner of his lips rose, "Heh. But, believe it or not, I have this feeling that _you_ may just be the one who could give him _that_ something he's been longing for the most..."

"What... what does Naruto long for?" _because if I knew, I would do anything to give it to him._

"... Tch." Sasuke replied smugly; taking his time to find a comfortable position on the tree branch, "Why don't you ask your cousin's girlfriend? She seemed the type to give off subtle yet blunt proclamations of the answer you're searching for."

It took a while before his words sank in. "Tenten-chan?" There was wonder in her tone, "But she's not..."

"Heh," Sasuke's monosyllabic reply hung in the air as Hinata's words trailed off. "Come on. It's quite obvious. Your cousin's only being stupid."

She contemplated on this for a brief while before enlightenment suddenly dawned upon her. So, she wasn't really seeing things— she _had_, in fact,_ seen_ Neji-niisan smiling gently at Tenten's retreating figure after their sparring sessions; nor was it her impaired vision that caused the slight tinge of pink across Neji-niisan's cheeks that, she thought, was too... _pink _to be called sunburn while the clueless Hanabi was narrating something about how beautiful Tenten-chan looked in her two-piece bathing suit last summer; or, the way Neji would spear any guy with a lethal glance if their eyes even dare linger at her for a while. There were a lot of incidences, but to shorten a long story: Hinata wasn't _really_ imagining Neji-niisan's peculiar actions whenever things about Tenten gets within the diameter of his Byakugan range. She _saw_. It was for real.

"Neji-niisan's... girlfriend..." she whispered and thought that Uchiha-san was right about her cousin being stupid. Tenten-chan was telling her something about Neji-niisan's happiness, oblivious to the fact that his happiness revolved around her for quite some time now. Both were the sources of the other's happiness...

And then her eyes shifted towards Naruto-kun; her lips curving up softly into a quiet little smile.

"Thank you, Sasuke-san," she said, never taking her eyes off the object of her affection for years and years, "And I also wish the same thing for you."

Sasuke's eyes closed nonchalantly, "Thanks but right now, I'm content with how my life had been faring."

Her eyes suddenly twinkled amusedly, "You're content but I'm sure... if you'd only entertain the happiness that you've been rejecting, you'd be fulfilled rather than just being content with how things are faring."

A bolt suddenly struck Sasuke's chest which, he valiantly fought to suppress. "If you're talking about Sakura, I'm not—"

"I'm not mentioning names, Sasuke-san," she giggled, "You're just being defensive."

He suddenly felt his cheeks burn and, much to his horror, Hinata didn't fail to catch it. "I'm not," he snapped, half-heartedly; finding it hard to actually snap at someone so meek and... polite, without being judgmental.

"Just as you had mentioned before Sasuke-san... just as you had asked me not to deprive Naruto-kun of what he deserved to have after all these years, I'm asking you now as well," she paused as she saw Sakura's brutal way of beating some sense into Naruto's brain before waving cheerfully; treading the path to meet them with her usual sunny smile.

"_Oi! Hinata-chan! Sasuke-kun!"_

"Do not deprive Sakura-chan and yourself the happiness you both deserved after going through those hardships for so long," she waved at Sakura-chan. "Just as your mother had been so keen on reminding you that you'd only understand things as they are when time comes, don't you think it also went with the fact that you have to open up and learn how to accept things as they are?"

Hinata didn't have to use her Byakugan to sense that Sasuke's surprised gaze had turned softer when Sakura came within six feet.

"Hinata-chan!" Sakura smiled at her and briefly glanced up at Sasuke, oblivious of the slight tinge of pink on his cheeks, "Sasuke-kun..." her affectionate change of tone was obvious, and was suddenly back to normal when she faced Hinata again, "Neji had been looking for you. He mentioned something about your father needing you to attend a council meeting today...?"

Hinata suddenly paled when her duty as the Hyuuga clan's heiress pin-balled through the corners of her brain. She did _not _just forget the council meeting would be held today, didn't she? "I-I..." she immediately bowed, "T-Thank you, Sakura-chan. I- I..." she looked around, momentarily losing orientation of which direction to run off to, "I have to hurry..."

"Good luck with the council meeting, Hinata-chan!" she heard Sakura's bidding as she began a giddy dash for her home; feeling the cool air dance around and merrily crash against her face as if it shared and felt the same feeling that she has at this very moment.

Conversing with Uchiha Sasuke-san about matters like that was clearly unexpected but never unwelcome. Who would expect that he was aware of everything that had been going on after being gone for a year? Anyway, regardless of how things had turned out though, starting off with her following Naruto-kun around and being caught by Sasuke-san in the act, she could only think of one thing.

If Naruto-kun wanted his piece of happiness then, by all means, she would get it for him.

Everyone deserved happiness, anyway. Why keep it when you could give?

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_as an end note, I'm not sure if this is a one-shot or a multi-chappie of various pairings. Hehehe. XD_


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